A Schottky/Z-Scheme Hybrid for Augmented Photocatalytic H and HO Production.

The prodigious employment of fossil fuels to conquer the global energy demand is becoming a dreadful threat to the human society. This predicament is appealing for a potent photocatalyst that can generate alternate energy sources via solar to chemical energy conversion. With this interest, we have fabricated a ternary heterostructure of TiC nanosheet modified g-CN/BiO (MCNRBO) Z-scheme photocatalyst through self-assembly process. The morphological analysis clearly evidenced the close interfacial interaction between g-CN nanorod, BiO and TiC nanosheets. The oxygen vacancy created on BiO surface, as suggested by XPS and EPR analysis, supported the Z-scheme heterojunction formation between g-CN nanorod and BiO nanosheets. The collaborative effect of Z-scheme and Schottky junction significantly reduced charge transfer resistance promoting separation efficiency of excitons as indicated from PL and EIS analysis. The potential of MCNRBO towards photocatalytic application was investigated by HO and H evolution reaction. A superior photocatalytic HO and H production rate for MCNRBO is observed, which are respectively around 5 and 18 folds higher as compared to pristine CNR nanorod. The present work encourages for the development of a noble, eco-benign and immensely efficient dual heterojunction based photocatalyst, which can acts as saviour of human society from energy crisis.